Saturday, September 29, 2012

Auction house description: GIBEON MASK - AN INCOMPARABLE IRON METEORITEIron, fine octahedrite - IVA Great Nama Land, Namibia - (25° 30'S, 18° 0'E)
Closing out the Gibeon section is arguably the most aesthetic iron
meteorite known to exist. In 1992, indigenous tribesmen in Namibia's
Kalahari recovered this matchless specimen with the aid of a metal
detector. It is extremely rare for meteorites to have naturally formed
holes, and rarer still when the holes are positioned in the matrix in
such a way as to yield a magnificent aesthetic specimen-let alone the
highly zoomorphic example seen here. Defined by the two adjacent hollows
that perforate its mass and separated by perfectly sculpted ridges,
there is an exquisite asymmetric balance between this meteorite's two
sides: the outward flanging of one side is offset by the larger hollow
and more prominent opposing crest.In addition to the mechanisms
involved in the shaping of aesthetic iron meteorites described in the
previous lot, there is one other critical detail that was of particular
significance to the current example: the moment of extraction from
beneath the Earth's surface. If removed several hundred years earlier,
this specimen would not have been the perfectly singular zoomorphic
evocation before us. If removed several hundred years later, the holes
would be far too large and outsized. Adorned with a sumptuous natural
patina from its stay in the Kalahari and accompanied by a custom
armature and Lucite dome, this is an incomparable meteorite from the
finest collection of aesthetic iron meteorites in the world. 195 x 212 x 177mm (7.66 x 8.33 x 7 inches) and 9.37 kilograms (20.66 pounds)Provenance: The Macovich Collection, New York City